Evolving Planets Essay

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The “Evolving Planet Exhibit” took me on a journey through 4 billion years of life on earth, from the Precambrian singled cell organisms to the Mesozoic towering dinosaurs and extended hominid human family. The unique fossils, concrete interactive displays and recreated sea and terrestrial landscapes help the compelling story of evolution- the single process that connects everything that has ever lived on earth.
Evolution of life on Earth occurred 4.5 billion years ago, the Precambrian Eon. This Eon makes up ninety percent of Earth’s history. Organic compounds were the building blocks on Earth; two theories exist of how these forms came to be; they may have formed on Earth, through underwater thermal vents, or carried to Earth through meteorites. What followed, were prokaryotes, single celled organisms, and eukaryotes, multi-cellular organisms. The development of prokaryotes caused transformations to Earth, through the process of photosynthesis, which allowed for the development of oxygen in our atmosphere. Through Eukaryotes, natural selection was possible, due to genetic variation.
During the Paleozoic era, which occurred 543 million years ago, there was an explosion of life, which led to the wide variation of life that we see today. Throughout this period there was a significant outburst in marine life. As time evolved, skeletons had evolved structurally, which allowed for larger bodied organisms to grow. Their chemical composition includes the minerals calcium and phosphate. Although evolution allowed for new adaptations, they weren’t significant enough to withstand the first extinction on Earth, which wiped out 70% of species, known as the ice age. After the ice age, plants, from green algae, developed on land. The marine life diversified, developing placoderms, acanthodians and osteoderms. This did not last for long, for a second massive extinction occurred because of cold climates all year, wiping out 70% of marine life, including placoderms and...